Klaatu To Warn Us About…. Global Warming?

I know I haven’t posted much lately (thanks to my hearty band of writers!) but I just HAD to chime in on this one.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the original (and classic) version of The Day the Earth Stood Still, but it was borne out of fears of the Atomic Age and the initial stirrings of the Cold War. Today it may seem quaint and dated but at the time it was a very relevant theme to be tackled from a sci-fi angle.

Over at MTV.com they’ve quoted Keanu Reeves in an interview and while he admits that yes, there is a huge threat posed by the staggering number of international conflicts…

“The version [of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'] I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth.”

Ok, all together now: Awwwwwwwwwww…..

Are they kidding? Jeez, this thing should have come out as a triple-feature with those other sci-fi fantasies The Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth. It’s a little late now that more and more actual statistically valid science is being allowed to surface that refutes the whole “Global Warming” thing. Of course those who stand to profit are quick on their feet and have replaced that overused term with the less confrontational “Climate Change.”

Anyway, with all the conflict and outright genocide going on in the world today, an alien is going to come from outer space and try to get us to buy carbon credits?

I’m sorry but any chance this movie had of being a meaningful remake of the original just went out the window for this writer.

At least they’re keeping the classic line “Klaatu barada nikto.”

If you want to read a really great book about the so-called environmental crisis, I recommend you read Michael Crichton’s most excellent State of Fear.

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Sandy 6 years ago

Well, you are jumping the gun here, arent you? Keanu, aside the fact he said too little about it, just said the movie is “trying to reach beyond the idea of [just] environmentalism”. Of course it will deal with nature and what humans are doing with the planet and with themselves. The world changed a lot since the 50s and if they focuse only in the war aspects of the problems that impact humanity, the new movie will be dated in a few years, just like the original. It’s impossible to ignore what we are going through today, but I pretty much doubt that Klaatu will ask professor Barnhardt to stop using plastic bags!

LOL, Sandy – GREAT reference there. I’m actually watching the original as I type this.

I think that making man’s inhumanity to man the core of a movie certainly doesn’t date it. That’s been going on since the dawn of mankind. However I’m old enough to remember the “Eco” movement of the 60′s and the hysteria over “the coming ice age” only 25 or so years ago.

That not only dates those issues, but I guess it dates ME as well, lol.

Too soon to say how this will play out. It could be the whole “it’s in your nature to destroy yourselves” scenario from Terminator II. An alien intelligence predicts we have one generation left before we deplete natural resources; up the CO2 levels causing global catastrophe, drop nukes, whatever. Perhaps they see us as an intelligent virus. We are after all the dominant species on the food chain, for now. But obviously it hasn’t always been that way. I agree that the producers have to bring the new version into the 21st century – something contemporary enough to resonate. It’d would be nice to make this timeless like the original.

Okay, this might come off as a tad “biased”, nut here goes…
I am a screen writer who drafted a sequel to “the day the earth stood still” some three years ago. The concept was to revisit the situation 50 years after the initial contact
( We humans obviously having ignored the warning at the end of the first film, as evidenced by our current rediculous behavior towards one another), and was left to approach FOX with the idea as they held sole propriety over the original. I won’t get on my soap box about the unprecidented attempt at a sequel fifty years in the making, but needless to say, FOX has jumped on the “Hey! lets make a crappy sequel with loads of special effects !” bandwagon.I breaks my heart. The Robert Wise film is so diffinitive in it’s content that a remake will only serve to alienate fans of the existing work while introducing the “X-Box generation” to a cheap and watered down concept copy. KEANU REEVES??? PLEASE!!!! I am completely dissapointed with FOX for letting us true fans of this amazing movie down in search of a buck because of their never ending short sigtedness. They, like the humans in the original work, seem to prefer to rely primarily on hindsight instead of vision. For any TDTESS fans who are interested, I would be happy to e mail you a copy of my concept in return for your feedback. It may never get used, but I truly believe the scipt dovetails nicely with the original, and it’s message rings true today in the world’s current state of affairs.

Vic, I always remember the scene with Klaatu and Professor Barnhardt, it’s one of my favorites.

I agree with Mike V, I think that they will deal with the destructive nature of man and the main consequences that it will bring in the future, not sticking only about politics or wars that are happening today. I am really antecipating this movie and I am a fan of the original. I think that is a movie that claims for a good remake and it’s time. It’s impossible to do it without talking about those issues and if they go beyond the obvious, really questioning why men act so harsh towards their own specie and enviroment, it will be a great update.

Wow – quite a few jumping in on global warming/climate change pro/con. I don’t pretend to know the answers, but I do know this: before you take a side, make certain you know the difference between ‘weather’ and ‘climate.’ The weather is what you see right now outside your window. It can and does change frequently. Climate is the pattern that forces weather to change. It is much slower (think seasons, not days). Is there a change in the weather? Yep – pretty much daily. Is there a change in the climate – over time, and not just season to season? (that’s the debate, as I see it) Harder to say, and I’m not going to weigh in either way. I just know I’m tired of hearing some wit remark, “So much for global warming” when it’s a snowy day and others run around when the temp hits 90 degrees screaming “Global warming!” Scientific verification and study by apolitical and respected scientists are needed, not knee-jerk reactions.

I’m quite sure the remake won’t be dealing only with Gobal Warming. Am I wrong or I read Keanu Reeves say ” trying to reach beyond the idea of environmentalism”. But it’s ridiculous to think in an update and talk about what humans are doing to themselves and to the planet and forget to cite environmental issues!

The thing that I got from the movie that most people seem to gloss over, is the fact that the aliens didn’t care if we blew ourselves to hell, it was our impact on the other races of the galaxy that he was here to warn us about, if we start our aiming our violent nature and weapons at them, they will hand our asses to us. As long as our problems stayed local, that seemed fine to him. Perhaps I’m wrong, but thats how I took Klaatu’s message.

790 – “I have to agree with Hirogen and Vic that the message should be mankinds warlike attitude and weapons in space…”

This is precisely what my script centers on, as well as a plot twist that makes the value of life and the preservation of peace paramount to the continued exsistence of mankind as it relates to KLAATU’S final warning.

Any of us could be put in a situation where we have to rise up against immanent peril, and often times, that’s when we, as a race, tend to be at our best.

The latest news about climate change is so alarming (the right wing would say alarmist) as to make many people want to plant their aching heads in the sand. Some scientists using advanced computer models now argue that if we want to stop the Earth from warming, the amount of carbon we should be emitting is … none. None? As in, zero? As in, shutting down the global industrial economy? After all, global energy demand is expected to accelerate until at least 2020. Yet attempts even to slow the rate of increase of carbon emissions have paralyzed world politics for more than a decade.

For any TDTESS fans who are interested, I would be happy to e mail you a copy of my concept in return for your feedback

I would very much like a copy, Michael. But you said: ( We humans obviously having ignored the warning at the end of the first film, as evidenced by our current rediculous behavior towards one another); in your version, are humans inhabiting other planets? I ask this because Klaatu warned earth to not inhabit other planets and spread their bickering and hatred. BTW, it is rediculous how we treat one another, isn’t it?

Why can’t they just keep the same premise? We haven’t gone to other worlds yet, so why can’t the warning be the same? Hollywood gives me a headache.

John “Kahless” Taylor
“Why can’t they just keep the same premise? We haven’t gone to other worlds yet, so why can’t the warning be the same? Hollywood gives me a headache.”

Hello John,

Thank you for your interest! Yes Hollywood does indeed seem to be the “Anti Asprin” as far as their unwillingness to build upon good work. Instead, they feel that its easier to take existing works of sci-fi and replace a strong plot with flashy direction and eye candy while trying to garner interest by “Re-imagining” popular films. I find their lack of vision and imagination sickening.

The screenplay is on its way to you

Screen Rant, Deffinately food for thought vis a vis the chemtrails! I often chuckle at the whole “Save the planet” and “Global warming” issues that get tossed out there. Let’s face it, its hard to imagine the planet or its climate having any more concern about us than we have for each other, isn’t it? My humble opinion is simply that we, as a race, have based our existence on the unholy trinity of OIL, MONEY, AND WAR. We would be very fortunate to have someone from “Out There” to drop in and tell us to cool it, or else…

Call um Chemtrails.
They spray us (at least) once a week out here in LA. News dosnt cover it.
Nobody but the fringe conspiracy reporters are on top of this.
Yet every few days the planes fly over and white chemtrails come out that slowly turn into haze that reduces the amount of the suns ultraviolet rays on the surface.

(Crazy right? Its Been going on for years)
Its happening right in front of us….
Nobody seems to care.

I think one reason there doing it is so that the foodchain isn’t destroyed. UV waves do effect the sealife as well as bee pollination.

Its easy to scare us into going green and buying green products. I guess it would really be scary if we knew the truth. Yeah whatever.

I wouldn’t even waste a Repulsor Blast on this one. One of the best Classic SciFi films of all time and we’re going to ‘snivel about the environment’!?! Some ‘remakes’ shouldn’t be done. Why not take the origional and ‘colorize’ it too while you’re at it.

I’m with the “message won’t change” crowd. The Environment will just be another talking point on Klatu’s agenda. If the story is set just a little bit further in the future say the first humans land on Mars, then the message becomes even more relevent. If we think we can expand out into the universe exploiting/destroying everything as we go, then were in for a suprise. However, this is being opto instead of real!

My Dad works on a research boat with a few scientists and one of them went up to where the ice is melting. He said that there is no evidence that it is humans who caused it. More likely it is just part of a natural cycle and because of this I don’t belive in the green house effect. Eat your heart out Al Gore and do it while listening to scientists who talk about the real inconvienient(spelling check) truth, inconvineient for your wallet.